Old Feelings, New Beginnings
by FireFlies0
Summary: Hiyori has felt distraught with caging her feelings for a certain god. Through it all, she never seems to be able to cast away her love towards him. What will happen when she finally breaks down and tells all?


"I am Iki Hiyori."

The tip to her mechanical pencil snapped.

"_Ugh_!"

_Chick Chick Chick_

"I am Iki Hiyori!"

The scribbling of hurried Calculus homework commenced once more. To say that Iki Hiyori was stressed was an understatement. Finals were a stone's throw away and her university letters had arrived. She was an emotional mess. Getting the confirmation that she was accepted into the prefecture's most prestigious private universities not only brought about her parent's pride, but a great weight upon her teenage shoulders.

"I am…"

Her bottom lip trembled. A curse flew through her mind and she felt a tear break through her hard exterior. Hiyori's voice broke, mended itself, and broke again with two simple words: "Iki Hiyori."

Oh, and she was also in love with a god.

No, not a model or Chris Hemsworth. An actual god.

And she knew her feelings would never make anything come from fruition.

Hiyori was a strong woman. She had been for most of her life and being hit by a wall wasn't anything she was used to. She knew how to navigate difficult situations. She could climb the mountains of life with the tools around her. Hiyori seemed to make an impossible situation her advantage. But this? This was something she never could have foreseen.

She felt as if she knew him. Not just as they were now, but even when she ran into him on the street for the first time she felt as if she had known him for years. All of Yato felt like someone she knew in a past life. And that feeling made her mental. He was a tangled enigma of secrets that she desperately wanted to unravel.

Her eyes glanced at her phone momentarily.

_What are you doing?_ She asked herself. Her inner therapist told her that telling him all her problems would make her feel better, but she could never risk that… could she? Her friendship with him was one of the most sacred things in her life. Yato made her feel secure and protected. That's something she never wanted to lose, even if her life depended on it.

Her lips pressed together. What'd she want him to know? That she was in love with him? Iki Hiyori, a human with a finite life, was in love with a god who could potentially live forever. She scoffed to herself, trying to ignore the lunging feeling in her heart. It was long passed the time she gave up on her homework in turn for staring at the screen of her phone.

Without a moment's notice she grabbed her jacket and headed downstairs. She needed some air. The Spring night didn't shield her from a chill breeze and she was thankful. It would help take her mind off of life's problems, if only for a moment. Hiyori frowned as she noticed she was taking the avenues towards Kofuku's district. Even unconsciously she couldn't push Yato from her mind.

"Hiyori?"

Something about the situation and that voice made her angry.

"What?!" She spun around and there Yato was, stepping out of a convenience store with a canned coffee in one hand and a cup of noodles in the other. What a weird combination. He looked thrown off, not to mention his disheveled hair and his track jacket that was tied around his waist revealing the gray tee shirt underneath.

"Are… you okay?" He replied her short outburst. She wasn't her bubbly normal self, but how could she?

Hiyori huffed, frustrated and put off, "Honestly? No."

He was still perfect even at this time of night. It took all she could to keep eye contact. With eyebrows furled, she spun back around and walked away with a hurried pace. Of course he was the one to not wear his jacket on a night that was actually cold.

"Hey! Hiyori, wait up!"

How _dare_ he suddenly appear just as she was so caught up! It was inconsiderate. Rude, even. Her heart did backflips and she wanted to turn around. Tell him everything. She loved him. So what? That's not even that big of a deal.

Except like, it was the biggest deal in her life right now.

She felt his hand touch her shoulder. It sent a blush her cheeks and electricity down her arm. Yato was now walking beside her at the same pace, "Hiyori, what's wrong?" He sounded distraught. Hiyori tensed, bringing her arms around herself and partially wanted to pretend it was nothing. But it wasn't nothing. Yato wasn't nothing. He meant everything to her.

"Come on, Hiyori," he repeated her name as if she couldn't hear him. "What's wrong?"

"You!" She spoke up. Finding her voice weak drove her crazy.

"What?" Yato looked taken aback and stared down at her. God, those eyes were not what she needed, even now they made her knees weak.

"Y-you," she swallowed to appease her suddenly dry throat, "You're what's wrong!"

He didn't say anything at first and Hiyori could tell he was trying to assess how to approach her.

Her damned lip trembled again and she brought her hands to her face, hating herself for bringing this upon herself.

"Hey… hey, what did I do?" Setting down his cup noodles and coffee on the ground, he held his hands out in front of him. They ended up awkwardly on her shoulders. "What did I do?" He spoke softly. The opposite of his normal, loud demeanor. Hiyori knew that he truly did think he had done something to up upset her, but really all he did was exist and be near her. This upset her even more.

A silent sob bubbled up her chest. She didn't want him to leave her. Tears gathered in her lashes.

Yato's face fell. He made her cry. He spoke up, genuinely concerned, "Please tell me. I'm sorry for whatever I did." He repeated his apology and reached up to wipe a tear from her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

Hiyori let him embrace her with one hand buried in her hair. She couldn't stop crying. It was agonizing. There was so much she wanted to say but only small sobs came out. He kept repeating over and over how sorry he was in her ear. Anything to ease her troubles.

"I, I, I," she stuttered on the word, her heaving disallowing her any further. Yato held her tightly, and she was thankful that there was no one else on the small street aside from a tom cat in the ally. It would be an awkward site to see, she supposed.

"I love you," she finally got out amongst her tears. Almost immediately she felt him tense up around her. "I love you, okay?"

He didn't return her feelings. _Idiot_, she thought to herself, _Obviously he wouldn't_. A thousand thoughts flew through her mind. He's a god, not the boy next door. After being around for centuries, why would she think he would look at her like that? She bet the he had already been with far better women by now. Women prettier than her. She was lucky to call him a friend in the first place. What the hell was she thinking?

She tried pushing him off of her, he didn't budge. "That's what's wrong!" She sniffled, feeling tears prick at her eyes again at the thought of rejection, "I know that I sound… stupid or-"

Hiyori paused to find the right word, but nothing came to mind, "Or something! You're always in my head. When I'm at school, when I'm with my friends, wh-when I'm alone." Her face felt stark red. "I feel like I've known you forever and I never want anything to change, but I'm just telling you that because I'm exhausted of keeping everything in because you mean everything to me. So… so if you want to never talk to me again you aren't allowed to because I still need to teach Yukine basic geometry." She could feel his warmth and his heart beat. In any other situation, she'd be thrilled to be in this position.

"Why would I never want to talk to you again?" Yato spoke, lifting his head so his eyes met hers.

"Uh," she almost choked on her words while staring up at him, "Because-"

"Because I couldn't love you?" Yato's face was eerily serious, but she noticed a small grin creep onto his features.

"I- well," Hiyori was confounded.

"You are Iki Hiyori. How could I not fall for a girl like you? What I don't know is how a girl like you could be in love with someone like me."

He looked down at her incredulously, as if he didn't believe her stumbling confession speech a minute ago. "Hiyori, you've turned my world upside down," a signature smile lifted his features, "I can't imagine being here if it wasn't for you. I've been crazy in love with you since, like, forever."

"Are you sure?" Was all she could speak.

He looked up, thinking a little, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm head over heels for you. I didn't want to scare you, so I stayed quiet."

"But, what about-"

"Listen," she held onto her, almost as if he thought that if he let go she would fall out of his life forever, "I have never felt this way about anyone." Yato swallowed, she noticed how vulnerable he looked.

"I don't want to stop feeling this way. If… if…" he looked away from her briefly, "If you want to pursue something like – like I don't know a relationship? Like what Kofuku has, then I'd be down or whatever." Yato spoke so fast that Hiyori almost didn't catch what he was saying. His face was bright red under the streetlight. She smiled at his innocence, "Yato."

He looked back at her and released his tight hold, "I'm sorry, I guess what I'm saying to say is that whatever we go through… I'll stop at nothing to make sure you're by my side. I don't know what's going to happen, but as long as I'm with you I feel unstoppable."

He smiled down at her and Hiyori felt whole.

"Hiyori, I love you."

"I love you too, Yato."

Yato ducked down, touching his lips to hers and in that moment Hiyori felt that everything was going to be okay.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! This was the spur of the moment fic as I'm catching up in the manga. Cheers!**


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